A group of seven Brandeis students has raised $1500 as part of the Revive Mumbai initiative in response to the terrorist attacks in Mumbai over the Thanksgiving weekend, according to Naman Pugalia '09, an Indian student who is a resident of South Mumbai and who has spearheaded the initiative.During the attacks, gunmen killed 173 people and injured 308 after occupying several upscale hotels frequented by Western tourists over the Thanksgiving weekend. The terrorists also attacked the Nariman House, a Chabad Lubavitch Jewish center in the Colaba section of Mumbai, killing Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivkah after they and others were held hostage. Their two-year-old son Moshe was able to be rescued from the building, which was severely damaged in the attack.

The students aim to help reconstruct the damaged building of the Chabad House, facilitate visits of Brandeis students to the region and establish a scholarship for underprivileged students from the area in the name of the Holtzbergs. The group has also been cooperating with students at New York University to raise money for the efforts.

Pugalia spent 20 days in India to lay the foundation for the plans over break, he wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. Pugalia wrote that over winter break he met with Rabbi Dov Goldberg in India, who took over the Nariman House after the death of the Holtzbergs. Goldberg told him that the plans for the rebuilding effort are being run by the Chabad headquarters in New York City. Pugalia wrote that the Brandeis group would contact the New York headquarters through Rabbi Peretz Chein in Waltham.

"I am hoping we can set up something for Brandeis students who are interested in coming to Mumbai in order to help with reconstruction efforts," Pugalia wrote. He added that he brought over a banner with signatures from Brandeis community members to be hung in the new Chabad house.

Pugalia wrote that the group had collected $1,500 so far. Originally envisioned as funds in support for families of deceased security forces who responded to the attacks, he wrote that the funds would be donated to the scholarship since the state and central governments have already provided funds in support of such families. He also met with officials from the U.S. Embassy to discuss the Revive Mumbai effort as well as the Brandeis-India Initiative, a program initiated by the Office of the Global Affairs to strengthen the University's relationship with India, wrote Pugalia. He wrote that the U.S. Embassy officials agreed to assist the group in the process of looking for donors for the scholarship. Pugalia wrote that the group intends to work this spring on raising the $50,000 in capital the students have budgeted for the scholarship.

Brandeis students started a weblog about their proposals in early December after two vigils for the victims were organized by the South Asian Students Association and the Brandeis Chaplaincy. The students hosted a Dine for Mumbai event Dec. 4 in the Shapiro Campus Center, where a Indian buffet meal were sold for $10 to raise money for the effort. On the blog, Ethan Geringer-Sameth '12 offered lessons in tabla, an Indian drum, with proceeds to go to Revive Mumbai. NYU students also helped plan a Dine for Mumbai event at Yuva, an Indian restaurant in New York City.

Director of the International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life Daniel Terris praised the effort and said the Ethics Center would support it. As one of the main programmers for the Brandeis-India Initiative, he was in Mumbai with Prof. Singh about 10 days before the attacks and had meetings with Brandeis alumni and friends in the affected Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel as well as the Oberoi Trident Hotel.

He described how Mumbai was important to the Brandeis-India program as potential opportunity for internships through connections with alumni. "Therefore the news of the tragedy there hit me very hard personally," he said. "I was very heartened to see Brandeis students take such positive steps in the wake of the tragedy. Not just to grieve . but also to think about what contributions these individuals and we as a community can make to the rebuilding of that city."

A portion of funds raised from Brandeis alumni and friends in the area will go towards Revive Mumbai, Terris said. "When tragedies like this happen, we obviously have to . make sure that we don't proceed with anything recklessly because we want to make sure that it's safe . but on the other hand this kind of tragedy is an opportunity to make a contribution in a meaningful way, and we shouldn't back away from places that have experienced violence," Terris said. "You can see the [increasing world globalization] by the reaction of the Brandeis students of Indian origin who felt a kind of special connection to the events at the Chabad house because of their experience at Brandeis.